Enemy Way

by Aimée

  Ella shook her head. “I’d feel clumsy in the skirt, and naked without my slacks and jacket.”

  Rose smiled. “And your badge?”

  Ella pressed her lips together, hating to admit it, but knowing it was futile to deny the truth. “Yeah, and the badge.”

  “It’s what you were meant to do. Don’t let anything keep you from that, Daughter.”

  Ella shook her head in bewilderment as she reached into the refrigerator for the milk. “I don’t get it. I thought you’d rather see me doing something else, anything else, than to be a cop.”

  “Yes, but I’ve grown to accept it because I’ve learned that it’s a part of you. Just don’t ever stop seeing that yourself. No self-doubts.”

  “I do see it,” Ella said slowly, pouring herself a glass of milk, then setting it down to check her weapon. “But I see a lot of other things, too, like responsibility to family and friends.”

  Rose shook her head. “Just don’t worry about me, or our teacher friend. Things will work out, you’ll see.”

  Ella took a deep breath. “I hope you’re right, Mom. But I don’t have time to think about it right now. Let me wake Loretta to help you with breakfast, and then I’ve got to go.” She gulped down her milk in a few swallows.

  Rose shook her head. “It’s too early. Let her and Julian sleep. We’ll know soon if your brother is going to return this morning, as he said, to take his wife and son home. And remember, I can take care of myself. I don’t need a baby-sitter.”

  Ella hurried to the door, grabbing another slice of bread to eat on the way. “I’ve got to go, but we’ll talk later, okay?”

  Ella sped down the dirt road, wishing she’d known that Neskahi had made an all night stakeout before now. She intended to read him the riot act about following procedures later, but right now she wanted to make sure he was covered.

  Ella notified Justine at the station as she raced down the highway. She wanted more backup in case of trouble. Assured that at least one patrol car would be dispatched to the area, she began to feel the first burst of optimism. If Neskahi had managed to track down the gunman’s vehicle, there was a good chance they’d find the driver, too. The prospect made a burst of adrenaline race through her. This was the best part of being a cop. It was an indescribable rush when things started to come together.

  Ella saw Neskahi’s truck parked just down the street. This was a strange neighborhood. A dozen or more houses were in various stages of construction, but only four looked like they’d been finished. The new dwellings had been laid out in clusters of four and only the central cluster was inhabited. The only house that looked lived-in was older, and a different style from the rest. Many other lots had been staked out, and construction trailers and fenced areas with materials still stood, though it looked like it had been months since anyone had used them. The area had the feel of a ghost town in the making, despite the presence of one paved street.

  Ella remembered hearing about this section of Shiprock. It had started with a few new houses going up around a very old one, one which the resident refused to have renovated. But then, after the first three new houses were constructed and people moved in, the tribe discovered that no one was willing to remain there for more than a few months. The houses would be found abandoned. No explanations were ever given. Most of what she knew came from gossip, but, seeing the place now, she’d bet it was accurate.

  As she looked around, she silently commended the shooter’s instincts. Had she been trying to escape pursuit, this was just the area she would have picked. First, there was the mystique, and secondly, there were enough arroyos and half-completed buildings here to hide or confuse any cop in pursuit.

  Ella parked her Jeep, then walked over to meet the sergeant. “I’ve called in backup,” she said.

  “It wasn’t necessary. This is my collar.”

  She gave him a hard look. “You’re exhausted, and if you want to make a collar at all, you’re going to need help. A two-year-old could get past you right now.”

  He squared his shoulders, blinking to keep his eyes focused. “You’re wrong. I—”

  Suddenly a pickup shot out of a closed wooden shed. The building burst, wood flying everywhere. In a heartbeat, Neskahi jumped behind the wheel of his truck. Ella jumped into the passenger’s side as he started to pull away. “Okay, so maybe you’re less tired than I thought.”

  “I knew he’d wait until morning, then hit the highway and try to blend in. I just didn’t expect him to use another vehicle. I bet he saw you arrive, and figured that others would be joining you for a house-to-house search.” Neskahi pointed out.

  Ella called in their position. “We’ll try to head him off,” she told Neskahi. “I’ve ordered a roadblock set up at the intersection ahead. He’ll be trapped between them and us.”

  Justine was too far away to take part, but had managed to get two patrol units in place, one a cop who was on his way to work and another who was in the area on a routine patrol. “We’ve got him, now,” Ella said, confidently.

  “No, not yet,” Neskahi said, as the driver turned off the highway and headed across an open field.

  “Where the hell is he going? This leads nowhere.”

  “Maybe that’s exactly where he wants to take us,” Neskahi suggested.

  Ella studied Neskahi’s expression. He was alert, but after this was over, he’d sleep for hours. Adrenaline would only carry him so far.

  Ella released the men manning the roadblock, but as Neskahi headed across an arroyo, the transmissions began to break up.

  “I don’t know the roads in this area. Do you?” Neskahi asked.

  “No, but it’s obvious he does, so stay sharp, and watch for holes and rocks.”

  The chase continued for another twenty minutes, and they moved farther and farther south, away from the Shiprock area. At times they were traveling at fifty miles an hour, despite the absence of any road more defined than an occasional dirt track. Ella could feel her tension rising. This wasn’t a chase, they were being led somewhere on purpose. And there’d be no backup there for a while, because any other cops would have to find them first.

  “Should I take a chance of losing him and cut across that wash ahead? If it works, we’ll head him off.”

  “Stay with him for now. This is familiar ground to him, so he’s got the advantage. If we try to cut him off, we may lose sight of him permanently.”

  “I’m worried about a reception party waiting at the end of this chase,” Neskahi said after several more minutes.

  They were traveling at speeds unsafe to both vehicles, but neither of them had ended up with so much as a flat tire. Ella shared Neskahi’s uneasiness, but remained silent, knowing it would do no good to voice her concerns now. Whatever happened, they were committed to seeing this through.

  “Keep alert for an ambush of any kind,” she warned, her eyes darting back and forth, searching for danger.

  “I don’t think that’s what’s on his mind,” Neskahi said, his voice taut.

  “What then?”

  He shook his head. “Look around. This isn’t the type of terrain one would pick for an ambush. It’s uneven, sure, but it’s barren of vegetation, too. The canyons are too few and too wide to afford any real cover.”

  “Then where the hell is he going?”

  “I wish I knew.”

  Ella tried to picture where they would be on a map. Things like the solitary microwave tower ahead were looking vaguely familiar. Her skin prickled, and a feeling of dread spread all through her. “I know where we are,” she said.

  “Where?”

  “Jane Clah, my father-in-law’s aunt, lived in a hogan around here somewhere.”

  “Lived? Past tense?”

  “Justine has been asking around for her, and we came out looking for her and checked with local businesses, but she seems to have disappeared. The one thing we’re fairly sure about is that her hogan was abandoned.”

  They passed within sight of it, rimming part
of the natural depression where it rested, but the person ahead of them continued at his breakneck speed.

  “What else is around here?”

  “Nothing, except what you’re seeing, I guess, but we didn’t conduct much of a search,” Ella answered.

  The driver ahead accelerated as they reached the road Ella had taken days before when looking for Jane’s hogan. It was on that hill, farther along, that her steering had failed and they’d almost gone off the side.

  A trail of dust filled the air as Neskahi negotiated a tight curve and they moved up the same hillside. Suddenly, the vehicle ahead went out of control. It flew over the edge, and slid down the embankment, smashing headlong into an enormous boulder.

  Ella leaned forward, bracing herself on the dashboard. “Hurry!”

  Before they could stop, the truck below erupted into flames.

  Neskahi hit the brakes and Ella jumped out, sliding down the slope toward the vehicle, hoping to get the driver out before the flames engulfing the engine reached the cab.

  In a heartbeat, Ella threw the door open and pulled out a middle-aged Navajo woman. Her face was embedded with glass, and blood poured down her forehead, but Ella recognized her. It was Mrs. Willink, the clerk at the trading post along Highway 666.

  “Where were you going? What were you hoping to do?” Ella asked.

  “I’ve done what I intended,” she whispered. “Out here alone you will get no more help. This is our land. You won’t make it back to Shiprock alive.”

  “But why did you do this? I barely know you.”

  “You know me as someone who takes care of a trading post … but that’s not who I am. I’m one of the many witches you’ve sworn to destroy … and part of the family you’ve tried to forget.”

  Ella tried to take it all in, but her mind was reeling with all the implications. She hadn’t forgotten any of her family. Surely this woman was crazy. “And you hated that boy, Thomas Bileen, too? Why? What did he do to you to merit your wanting to shoot him?”

  “He serves no purpose … to anyone,” she said, her voice growing weaker. “He even hates himself, though he’s afraid to die. We want … to teach a lesson the youth gangs won’t soon forget. We rule here, and they exist because we allow it. Our ‘gang’ came from the earth in the very beginning, and we’ll be around long after people like you and that boy are dead and forgotten,” she added, her breathing labored.

  Ella studied her features. Slowly an idea formed in her mind. “You’re related to Randall Clah, my father-in-law, aren’t you? You’re part of his other family, the one he kept secret.”

  “I’m his oldest daughter, one of many who hate you for what we never had, because he was too busy raising your husband.”

  With effort she raised a bloody hand to her lips, then gasped.

  Ella realized a second too late that the woman had just taken some kind of poison. As she held the lifeless body, Ella looked up at the skies and raged in silence against the bitter hatred that had destroyed yet another life.

  EIGHTEEN

  Ella stood up slowly. Neskahi was waiting by his vehicle. His gaze remained on the wrecked car, not on the body.

  Ella looked down at the corpse. She understood hatred, but not something this powerful. This woman, whom she scarcely knew, had been willing to die in the hope of taking Ella with her.

  “Do you know who she is?” Neskahi asked Ella.

  “Yes. She worked at the trading post over on Highway Six-six-six. She’s also our former police chief’s daughter.”

  Ella walked away from the body. There would be time for the dead later. Now their own survival seemed far more important. “You heard what she told me?”

  He nodded once. “I honestly don’t understand it. We should have no problem getting back to Shiprock. The truck’s undamaged, and even if we had to hike out to the highway, I can’t imagine either of us dying out here.” He paused, then added, “Unless there’s something else that we don’t know about waiting for us,” Neskahi said.

  Ella nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”

  As a coyote howled in the distance they exchanged quick glances. “Nothing to do with us,” she said.

  “Yeah.”

  They got back into the truck. As Neskahi started up the engine, Ella saw the gas gauge was nearly empty.

  “That can’t be right. I should have at least a quarter tank,” Neskahi said, turning off the engine. They both got out to check for holes in the fuel line or tank.

  Squatting down, Neskahi looked under the truck and saw a steady drip of fuel coming from the tank. He got underneath, and held his finger over the hole until Ella could find a stick. Neskahi took the piece of wood and wedged it into the hole, almost stemming the flow. Then he crawled back out and stood, dusting off his clothes quickly. That should hold it for awhile,” he said, looking weary.

  “Let’s hope a while is long enough,” Ella replied.

  Before long they were on their way, driving west toward the highway. “I spent most of the night staking out her neighborhood, but I guess she was watching me just as carefully,” Neskahi said. “I must have been groggier than I thought if she was able to get past me and poke a hole in my truck’s gas tank. It looks like we’ve been pumping gas onto the ground ever since the chase started. She lured us farther away from the roads, knowing we would run out eventually and that, out here, radio transmission is poor because of the terrain.”

  “But she didn’t know about my cell phone,” Neskahi smiled. “Maybe we can still get through.” He reached for the phone, then groaned at the low battery light.

  “Try it anyway. I left mine in my Jeep,” Ella said with a shrug.

  Neskahi punched out the station number, but the phone failed to respond. “Sorry. It’s been almost twenty-four hours since I charged this thing.”

  “It’s okay. Justine knows where we turned off, and so do the others. They’ll come after us soon.”

  Ella took a deep breath. “It’s okay. You had to keep your eyes on the road. Justine knows where we turned off, and so do the others. They’ll come after us soon.”

  Neskahi felt a blast of air and sand hit the truck, slowing it down. “Luck’s not with us. We’re in for a dust storm, and driving against the wind will cost us even more fuel.”

  Ella didn’t believe in luck, good or bad, but she wasn’t sure what else to call the storm that was building. “We’ll drive until the gas gives out, then walk the rest of the way to the main highway. The sand’s unpleasant, but it has a plus. It’ll hide us from our enemies.”

  “And them from us,” Neskahi said.

  * * *

  The gas gave out after only a few miles. After considering waiting out the sandstorm inside the truck, they decided to head for the highway instead. Neither wanted to waste time waiting to be found when there was work to be done. Once they reached the highway, help would be quick to reach them.

  Ella left a note inside the truck explaining what had happened in case a patrol car found the vehicle. They hadn’t been able to reach anyone on the radio, but they took their hand-helds anyway, hoping that as they narrowed the distance to the highway that would change. Seeing Neskahi reach for his shotgun before getting out, Ella nodded in approval.

  The moment they stepped out of the vehicle, they got pelted by a blast of stinging sand. Ella zipped up her coat and stuck her hands in her pockets. The wind was icy, and she found herself wishing she’d eaten something more substantial for breakfast. At least then she would have had more calories to burn to warm herself up.

  Keeping some distance from each other, in case of an ambush, yet remaining within sight of each other, they kept quiet, listening, trying to make out sounds over the howl of the wind. Ella felt the danger all around them, she knew her enemies were near, but she couldn’t see anyone. She wasn’t at all sure if they’d have to go up against her father-in-law’s family, skinwalkers, or both. Her father-in-law had been the former police chief and the leader of a group of Navajo witches out to seize
power on the reservation. Her own father had been their first victim.

  After a short time, they found themselves in a low area that seemed to go on forever. “We’re getting near Jane’s hogan. I remember it was in a large basin. Her home gave me the creeps before, but I’d be willing to go along if you want to take shelter in her hogan until this storm passes,” Ella shouted. “It’s worse than we thought it would be.”

  “I’d rather not, if we’re voting on this.” Neskahi yelled back.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t like the idea. We don’t know what happened to her,” Neskahi said.

  “Are you worried about the chindi?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know about that, but I don’t like the idea of being on their ground. If it gave you the creeps, that’s enough for my thumbs down.” Neskahi quickened his pace until she had to hurry up to keep him in sight through the dust.

  She knew he wasn’t really so far away, that it was just the blowing sand that made it seem so. Finally, she spotted something to her left that gave her an idea. She checked it out, then caught up to Neskahi, who was waiting after he had lost sight of her.

  “There’s a shallow cave back there, and it looks like there’s nothing inside except spiderwebs. Let’s hole up there until this wind dies down a bit. Is that okay with you?”

  It seemed like a good solution, and Neskahi quickly agreed. As she slipped through the tall, narrow opening cut into the hillside itself, she felt a sense of destiny. Something inside her assured her that she’d been meant to find this place.

  Neskahi brought out a pocket flashlight, illuminating the interior. “Someone’s used this place before.”

  Ella fought the urge to turn and run as she saw the two wedding bands resting in a bed of ashes beside the rock wall ahead. One had been cut through to allow the second band to become entwined within it.

  Ella recognized the bands. They’d been custom-made out of turquoise and silver. Eugene, her husband, had worn one, and she had worn the other. He’d been buried with his. Hers had been put away, along with the memories that it had carried, in what she’d thought to be a safe place. It had been placed under a rock on a hillside where they’d first made love.